Ricki ruling out afters for Duff and Lenny ‘square-go’
TALKING MORTON
MORTON defender Ricki Lamie insists there is no bad blood between Ton and Hibs, even though their last clash descended into chaos.
Lamie’s team-mate Kudus Oyenuga’s sending off sparked a mass touchline melee after he caught Jordon Forster with a crunching tackle in the goal-less draw just over a week ago.
Darren McGregor, who has had his dismissal downgraded to a yellow on appeal, was then ordered off for an alleged heatbutt on Oyenuga.
The Morton management team of Jim Duffy and Craig McPherson and Hibs head coach Neil Lennon also caught got up in the bedlam and have been called to appear before a Scottish FA disciplinary hearing.
But Lamie insists the fall-out from that controviesal match will not spill over into today’s Cappielow showdown between the two Championship promotion rivals.
He said: “There’s been loads of coverage but everyone is focussed on the fact it’s the league leaders you’re up against.
“There is no bad blood or anything like that, it will be a highly competitive game like it was last week.
‘“We realise the task we’re up against is arguably the toughest in our league. I’m sure we’ll be all guns blazing come Saturday but for the right reasons.” Third-place Morton have refused to throw in the towel on clawing back the 11-point gap on the leaders, especially since they have a game in hand. And Lamie admits just to be in this position in only their second season back in the Championship is an achievement. He added: “Hibs have showed that consistency and opened up that gap, it’s been a big disappointment with ourselves over the last couple of weeks that we’ve not managed to capitalise on a couple of hiccups and we’ve dropped points ourselves and the gap still remains.
“We’ll still be plugging away, regardless of the result on Saturday, to try and finish as high as possible.
“It would be nice to run it close but with the gap they’ve opened up I would be very surprised if they threw that away.
“For us just to have ourselves in this position just now, it’s a brilliant achievement.
“When you’re in the position we’re in that you exceed those expectations then everything else is a bonus. I’m not saying we’re going into games relaxed and not being up for it, but there isn’t that expectation, especially from the fans.
“They’ve realised how well we’ve done with the resources we have in comparison to other teams.”
Meanwhile, Hibs former Morton star Brian Graham is expecting some polite verbals from the Greenock faithful.
He said: “I got a bit of stick last time I was down there so I suppose I will get it again. I got dog’s abuse but that’s just part and parcel of the game. It’s good banter.
Graham and Hibs say they won’t allow the furore from the last game to go into this one.
The striker said: “You just have to be professional. What happened, happened, we can’t change that. We have to fully focus on the football side of it and keep cool heads.
“It’s that time of the season when boys are coming back from injury and everyone wants to be part of it, so a red card or yellow cards is daft.”
Hibs are so, so close. Win today and that will be it. Graham said: “You don’t just get it because you are Hibs and so, hopefully, we get over the line soon.”